Title: Materials and Methods
Artist: Neon Cage Experiment
Genre: Industrial
Release Date: 28th January 2008 (Europe)
Label: Vendetta Music
Introduction
The roots of NCE date back to the year 1993 when Nico and Bruno founded the project AXONAL WARFARE. At the same time another project called STIGMA was born in Strasbourg and as chance would have it the two bands went on tour together and became friends, still they’re continuing both their projects until 1999, when each band ceased to exist. In 2003 it happened that Yoann met Nico at a party and they started talking about collaboration. The two contacted Laurent and he agreed to lay his vocals on some of the tracks. The original name of that project was AW4. Bruno saw a live appearance of AW4 and was so delighted, that he decided to join the line-up and henceforth they called themselves NEON CAGE EXPERIMENT. The first release as a demo called ‘Specific Gravity’ followed by the first full-length ‘Oscillations’ which received rave review regardless of the fact that the album was limited to only 500 copies.
Members
Laurent K - Lyrics, Vocals
Yoann B - Programming
Nicolas R - Live Drums, Programming
Bruno L - Programming, Lyrics
Website
http://neon.cage.experiment.online.fr/ / http://www.myspace.com/neoncageexperiment
Track Review
01. Shadow of Words - 5:46
An all dark atmosphere captivates you with the first tones from ‘Shadow of Words’. At first it’s only a subtly texture but it’s pushing more and more too the fore until you become fully aware of it. Mechanical beats with a slight touch of noise start to appear before the chant finally starts to break the silence. Already here it gets very clear that this project doesn’t just rely on distortion effects to manipulate the vocals. A clean dark whispering is coming out of the dark delivering an intensive ambience. The underlying beat structures are as varied as it can get ranging from cleaner pumping beats to highly complex arrangements, fractured and glitched in every possible way
02. Breathing Cities - 5:10
I guess we could just categorize this track as danceable, but that wouldn’t do full justice to the track but to put another word on the dance topic: I guess this one really could be a crowd pleaser on the dance floor despite the fact of being more elaborate than a usual dance track. The very first thing really fascinating me with this song was this chorus part having these special kind of atmosphere, you can only find once in a while. Laurent’s vocals are almost drowning in the extended synth layers also displaying some influences of the Far East contained in the melodies
03. Caretaker - 5:02
“Don’t waste any time with a long introduction” could have been the agenda here as a vast amount of speech samples and mixed with changing rhythmical fundaments is starting track which leads into a very analogue sequence before the demanding mid-tempo beats tear you out of your lethargy, forcing you to move to it instantly. A wall of dark strings is rising up, while Laurent is performing the chant with his clean and distinct vocal style. But you shouldn’t forget to listen to the rhythm section more closely, which is so full of details making it much fun to listen to the track over and over again to discover new bits and pieces.
04. A Man - 6:01
The track is really giving me the creeps. Honestly when I listened to the song for the first time it was already getting dark outside and then it started. These pitch black atmospheric layers combined with those bleeping synths are still causing me goose bumps. The halting yet punchy beat only adds to that. In the further course of the song it reaches a point, where everything seems to get out of tune. The beats falter, get glitched and another drum layer seems to have appeared while more dramatic strings emerge.
05. Forgiven Lies - 7:31
Some artists do suffer from the length of their tracks. After a certain length of time they just fired up all their ideas for the particular song, repeating the chorus over and over again, so you’re constantly tempted to push the skip button. ‘Forgiven Lies’ is an exception. Already in the first minute of the song, the guys of NCE show their seemingly limitless amount of ideas using tweaked frequency gadgets and building up one layer upon the other which, in this case, results in a quite straight arrangement, but if you think this was already it, then wait for the chorus which is almost slaying you with its depth and atmosphere. I could go on but I won’t spoil you everything. ;-)
06. Into the Light - 5:05
A change of scenery. It is night, deepest night and while the rain keeps falling a car crosses the street to vanish on the next corner again. A truly dark setting and here we get to listen to the story of a man, who seems to be almost dead and he’s telling us how incredibly happy he feels to leave this world and walk into the light to reunite with his loved ones that passed away long time ago. To accentuate this kind of story in the right way a lot of dark melodies can be found here. Sometimes mighty chorals dominate, creating a sense of longing and wistfulness.
07. Minds - 5:22
Lots of instrumentals function as a resting place, where you can calm down for a while to gather new strength for what’s to come but not this one. ‘Minds’ demands the full attention of the listener in every second even if it starts very clam with some strings and synth effects, don’t expect it go on like this forever. A harsh break and the formerly slow and thoughtful rhythm that had appeared e few seconds ago transforms into a complex monster. Mistuned piano sounds and tweaked noises team up with sample of various kinds so you don’t know where to listen first.
08. Hell’s Darker Chamber - 5:22
In terms of atmosphere this song surpasses most of it’s predecessors by far from my point of view. With very subtle means, they’ve created a very nightmarish mood passing through everything in ‘Hell’s Darkest Chamber’ but it’s also one of the most elaborate pieces of music you can imagine. One time it’s just a slow brooding bass line, probably originating from deep underground, but then a complex structured beat appears and dark layers compress the ambience even more. Right in the middle comes a break revealing a noisy structure under the surface and for the first time guitars emerge and I’m still not sure if they’ve been played or if the arrangement has been built around a sample.
09. Life’s a Terrible Disease (feat. Brain Leisure) - 5:04
NCE teams up with label mate and fellow countryman Dominique Debert aka BRAIN LEISURE who’s delivering the vocals for this track and immediately puts his stamp on it with his hoarse vocal style. The arrangement remains complex as ever working with break beats and dark layers, which are not that dominant but staying a bit behind the vocals.
10. Memento - 5:22
Do you remember the motion picture ‘Memento’ from 2000 whose main character is a man without short-term memory; the plot is telling the story backwards from end to beginning. What this has to do with the song except for the same title? If you listen t the lyrics you’ll see that they’re telling a similar story ‘I can’t even remember, what my name is’. The overall mood is as you can guess anything but happy, it seems a bit surreal, hard to describe but very intense and if you consider this atmosphere, the rather destructive, distorted beats seem a bit disconcerting but somehow fitting. A distortion effect is also used on the vocals.
11. Masquerade - 6:12
I especially love the cinematic atmosphere of this track. It creates a subliminal cold and within the musical universe of the song, darkness and sadness seem to be the only existing things there. No light, nothing happiness not even the slightest bit of it. The voice that rises out of this mentioned darkness appears to be short of a breakdown but before that happens it wants to tell us a story with its last ounce of strength underlined by alternating rhythms that are almost drowning in that atmosphere.
12. Adrenaline - 4:53
Usually - when it comes to ‘Adrenaline’ - the songs are constructed in a club-friendly way but it is also possible to do it the other way around. ‘Adrenaline’ is far away from being danceable or club-friendly in any way. Much too intricate is the song setup, which is of a very demanding kind and not easy consumable. Halting rhythms dominate here and their appearance changes faster than you would imagine. Some bands would make three songs out of the ideas and elements used in this song.
13. The Loss - 6:16
I can’t help it but the song reminds me a bit of HAUJOBB. I can’t specifically say why but maybe it’s because of this special kind of interlaced song structure or anything else. Fact is that it isn’t a mere copy of something which has already been there before. The unusual way in which the beats have been rendered makes it already worth to listen to it but there’s a kind of mechanical atmosphere, which - regardless of its cold precision - bears emotions, that makes ‘The Loss’ really special.
14. Puppy (Binary Coded by Haujobb) - 6:15
Speaking of HAUJOBB, for the last track of the album, which is in fact a track taken from the first album ‘Oscillation’ no one less than this duo from Germany provided a remix and it is - as expected - no ordinary track. I can’t name the changes as I’ve never heard ‘Puppy’ in its original version but I like the basic rhythm of the mix, which doesn’t appear to be very complex at first sight but contains some fine details and I guess it’s not that easy to program it. The beat is joined by various processed speech samples and a hovering dark synth layer.
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 9
Conclusion
I’ve been asking myself why this band still seems to be such an insider’s tip. Is it because the unquestionable complexity of the arrangements, that it’s not club-friendly or easy consumable? What ever it might be it’s a shame. Here is a band that is moving away from the old schemes in electronic music. Their music isn’t predictable; it has atmosphere and a charismatic voice, which doesn’t need to be distorted. It shows how versatile electronic music can be today.
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